


Partners

by deathishauntedbyhumans



Category: Milo Murphy's Law
Genre: Bad Puns, BoTT, Brief Head Injury Mention, Brief blood mention, Brief injury mention, Bureau of Time Travel, Crack Treated Seriously, Dakota is a very competent time traveller okay, Feelings, Fluff and Crack, M/M, Mission Fic, POV Third Person Limited, This started off as crack, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 17:04:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13035579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathishauntedbyhumans/pseuds/deathishauntedbyhumans
Summary: “See? He’s over it already. Guess it’s TIME for us to go.” He paused, waiting for Cavendish to react, and when he didn’t, he added, “Geddit? Time? Because we’re Time Travellers? It’s funny, because--”Cavendish put up a hand to stop him, a pained expression on his face. “You make the same joke before every mission. Please. Just this once… Let’s just go.”---Cavendish and Dakota are given a mission to stop a movie from being made. THINGS get revealed.





	Partners

**Author's Note:**

> I got an anon Dakavendish prompt on tumblr: Our pistachio bois are sent on a mission to cancel the making of the Emoji Movie
> 
> Somehow, it inspired... this.

“You mean we’re off pistachio duty?” Cavendish sounded just about as shocked as Vinnie felt, shock emanating from the both of them. Mr. Block didn’t seem amused. 

“Yes, you’re off pistachio duty. This  _ isn’t  _ permanent, but I need someone in the twenty-first century and you two  _ idiots  _ are the closest to the job. Try not to screw this up,” Block told them, cringing at the thought. “We don’t need another moon incident.” 

“Of course,” Vinnie responded before Cavendish could react to that. “We’ll try not to let you down.” And then he ended the communication, drawing a disgruntled noise from the man beside him. 

“Dakota, why--” 

“You always get snappy when Block starts going off about the moon thing,” Vinnie responded flippantly, standing and stretching his back with a satisfying little popping sound. He glanced over just in time to see Cav wrinkling his nose in apparent disgust. “Thought I’d save us the lecture. Block’ll get over it.” He looked back at the screen, where a pair of coordinates were now blinking at them. “See? He’s over it already. Guess it’s  _ time  _ for us to go.” He paused, waiting for Cavendish to react, and when he didn’t, he added, “Geddit?  _ Time _ ? Because we’re  _ Time  _ Travellers? It’s funny, because--” 

Cavendish put up a hand to stop him, a pained expression on his face. “You make the same joke before every mission. Please. Just this once… Let’s just go.” 

\---

There was something to be said for the twenty-first century movie industry, that was for sure. Whether that something was good or bad… Well, that remained to be seen. 

Their mission was fairly straightforward: the first private screening of a terrible film was going to be showing, and by some strange reverse-miracle, it was going to get a “thumbs-up” from its target audience and move forward. Their job was to stop that from happening. It wasn’t really world-ending, terrifying, or otherwise dangerous, but it was better than pistachios that spontaneously combusted, so Vinnie was ready to take it at face value. 

Really, he should have known better. 

Sure, the mission started out alright. They successfully disguised themselves and blended in with the crowd to head into the theatre. Once the movie had begun, they’d snuck out again and into the projection room, where--

A strange, short man in an eyepatch had been waiting for them. 

“I knew the Bureau was on my tail, but I didn’t think they’d send such  _ fools _ after me,” he sneered. 

“We’re not  _ fools _ \--” Cavendish began indignantly, and for the second time that day, Vinnie jumped in and interrupted him before he said something ridiculous and managed to get himself hurt. 

“Eh. We might be fools,” Vinnie stated, and the full brunt of Cav’s indignation turned to him, instead. 

That was fine. Vinnie wasn’t about to shoot at Cav for being annoyed with him. 

The man in the eyepatch laughed, shaking his head and doubling over in the fit. “Oh, man. This is so good! So, what’re you planning to do?” he asked, straightening up and wiping tears of mirth from his eyes. 

Or, eye. He seemed to only have one, although it wouldn’t be the first time Vinnie’d seen someone who didn’t need it wear an eyepatch. 

“Stop you, obviously,” Cavendish stated irritably, causing Eyepatch to burst into another fit of laughter. He doubled over again, gasping for air, one hand clutching at the table to the side of him to keep himself from falling over. 

“S-Stop, oh, god, you’re t-too much!” Vinnie glanced over at Cavendish, noting the twitching of his mustache. Right. This was going to be one of  _ those _ missions. 

“Why in the devil’s name is that so funny to you?” Cav burst out with angrily, not even two seconds after Vinnie had done his best to gauge his mood. “Is this some sort of joke? Are we being  _ punked _ ?” 

Still fighting back giggles, Eyepatch stepped forward and clambered onto the table he’d been leaning on. Vinnie leaned back a little, the very picture of casual beside a very irate Cavendish. He felt anything but, his gaze darting easily between Eyepatch and the film they were supposed to be destroying, but looking cool in the face of danger was something he prided himself on, even though he was well-aware that it pissed Cavendish off when he acted as though he didn’t care. 

“Oh, no. See, I don’t think you quite understand the  _ gravity  _ of the situation.” Eyepatch giggled again, covering his mouth with a hand briefly before throwing it up in a wide gesture. “This movie is going to make me  _ rich!”  _ He paused, assumedly for dramatic effect, and huffed when he received nothing in response from either of the Time Travellers sitting before him. “ _ And!  _ And the best part! Oh, it’s so good. Sometimes, I scare myself!” He rubbed his hands together, leaning forward. “I--” he began in a stage-whisper. “Am going to… take over the world! This movie will make children like me so much that they’ll remember it forever, and when the time comes, they’ll make me their RULER!” 

There was a silence in the room, broken only by the muffled sounds of the movie playing in the theatre below them, as both Vinnie and Cavendish attempted to digest this… fairly radical statement. Vinnie stole another glance over at Cavendish, unsurprised to find him staring openmouthed at their opponent. Honestly, he didn’t even blame him. How was that even remotely possible? 

“How is that… even  _ remotely  _ possible?” Cavendish asked, voicing his thoughts. Eyepatch rolled his eyes. 

“Because kids are gullible.  _ Duh _ . When you make movies about shit kids like, they’ll remember you  _ forever _ . Besides, the Bureau sent you, didn’t they? Which means that I’ll be a  _ success!”  _

Vinnie’s eyebrows went up, and he cocked his head to the side a little. “That’s actually a fair point,” he conceded, and Cavendish scoffed, finally looking over at him. 

“You can’t be serious.” 

“No, I mean, think about it.” Vinnie was stalling for time, as he so often did, and judging by the big grin on Eyepatch’s face, it was working. “If there was nothing to worry about, we’d probably be on another pistachio mission. But Block sent us here, which means there’s gotta be  _ something  _ to the whole ‘kids are gullible’ theory.” He bent down, making as though he was straightening his shoelaces in a slow, unhurried motion. “Besides, you gotta admit, the guy’s got style. Hanging out in here alone, it’s dark. He’s even got the eyepatch, Cav. That’s some pretty quality stuff.” He straightened up, hands both balled lightly into fists. He made certain to keep the focus off of them by continuing his rambling speech. “I think it could work.” 

Eyepatch clapped his hands together and then placed them under his chin, still grinning in a pleased manner. “ _ See?” _ he directed at Cav. 

Perfect. 

“At least  _ someone  _ understands my genius. After all, it’s just like my mother used to say: if you want to succeed, you have to dress for success. This eyepatch is actually a family heirloom…” 

While Eyepatch was busy scolding Cavendish --who looked to be growing more and more annoyed by the moment-- Vinnie shifted a little to the side, shuffling just enough to have a clear shot at the projector unit. With a practiced ease, he lifted his arms in a stretch, releasing the miniscule device he’d pulled from beneath the cuff of his pant leg and tossing it in a arc, watching out of the corner of his eye as it latched onto the projector. He dropped his arms again, silently counting to ten, and then jerked into action, ignoring the twin shouts of surprise from both Cavendish and Eyepatch. 

Cavendish was struggling, but Vinnie managed to grab him anyways, pinning him to the floor and covering his body with his own. He felt Eyepatch’s hand on his shoulder for just a second before a loud explosion rocked the room and sent Eyepatch flying. Vinnie’s grip tightened on Cavendish as the mini-explosive went off, and as soon as Cavendish realised what was happening, he went slack in his arms. 

Vinnie kept them down for a good half-minute after the explosion, just in case, and only pulled himself off of Cav once he was certain that the room was stable. He felt a little dizzy; he was pretty sure he’d been hit with a piece of the projector somewhere on the back of his head, but he wasn’t about to deal with it in the moment. Cavendish was safe, Eyepatch was slumped against the wall on the other side of the room, and the projector was destroyed. 

“ _ What  _ in heaven’s name was  _ that?”  _ Cavendish asked in shock, accepting the hand Vinnie offered and clambering upright, absently brushing off his suit. Vinnie didn’t answer past shrugging a little, already heading to the other side of the room. He checked Eyepatch’s pulse --still going strong-- and then gestured to Cavendish. 

“Can you cuff him?” 

Cavendish spluttered for a moment before conceding that it was the best course of action, and he cuffed the unconscious villain while Vinnie shot a text out to Block that they’d apprehended the culprit and destroyed the video. He received an almost-instantaneous response --’Nice work, try not to make such a mess next time, idiots’-- and sighed heavily before returning his phone to his pocket. 

“They’ll send someone to pick him up. He’s not dangerous anymore. We should get out of here.” Vinnie brushed a hand through his hair at the back of his head in a way that he hoped was surreptitious, checking his palm and cringing at the sight of the blood on his hand. From the way Cavendish was staring at him, he supposed he hadn’t been as secretive as he’d wanted to be. 

“...Right,” Cavendish said, and they exited the room together, heading back to their vehicle. 

\---

It wasn’t until later that Cavendish confronted him about the explosive, of course. They first had to deal with the reports from the mission. Even if they’d been successful, they’d knocked a man unconscious in the process, and that was paperwork upon paperwork for the BoTT, something that was unceremoniously dumped on the two agents who’d been responsible for the action. 

So, when the reports had been taken care of, and Vinnie had taken a shower to wash the blood from his hair, naturally, he asked Cav if he wanted to eat. Cavendish had agreed without a fight, which should have been a warning sign of its own. 

“Where did you get that… device?” Cavendish finally asked him after they’d both been seated at the diner just down the street from their twenty-first century office/apartment. Vinnie kept his gaze fixed on his menu and didn’t respond. 

“Dakota.” Cav’s voice was quiet, serious. Too serious. Vinnie hated that tone. 

“What, Cav?” Vinnie still didn’t look up. “I’m tryin’ to decide what to order. You know it’s never an easy decision between the pancakes and the--” 

“Dakota,” Cavendish repeated quietly, cutting him off. Vinnie gulped --probably audibly-- and shut his trap. 

“Did you steal that from Brick and Savannah?” he asked, and Vinnie laughed before he could stop himself. It was a sharp sound, too short to be his usual mirthful laughter. Even without looking, he knew that Cav had frowned. 

“No. I didn’t steal it,” Vinnie stated, staring at the word “banana” on the menu and fixating on it firmly, rereading it until the letters stopped making any sense. 

“Then where did you get it?” 

Vinnie took in a deep breath.  _ Banana. Banana. Banana.  _ “Block.” 

Cavendish shifted a little, the booth beneath his squeaking in protest. “Pardon?” 

_ Banana. Banana. Banana. Banana.  _ “Block gave it to me. I have a few.” 

“He… gave them to you?” Cavendish sounded surprised, with a bare undertone of hurt, and  _ damn it _ , this was exactly what Vinnie had been attempting to avoid. 

“Yeah, but Cav, it’s not that big a deal--” he began, finally looking up from the menu. Cavendish’s face was lightly flushed, and he looked like he was fighting with himself. Vinnie sighed. “I try not to use them. I knew it’d bug you if I brought it up. It really isn’t anything special. Block gave me some experimental microexplosives when we first started, before the whole… y’know, moon thing. I didn’t use them then, and I never gave them back. So I just… have them.” 

It took a minute, but the flush began to go down on Cavendish’s face again, and he nodded slowly. “I see,” he said quietly, and looked down at his own menu. 

Vinnie reached out under the table with his left foot, finding Cav’s shoe and nudging it gently. “Please, Cav, don’t be like that. It’s really not a big deal. We should be celebrating! We had a successful mission today!” 

“ _ You  _ had a successful mission, today,” Cavendish responded sullenly, with a tiny shake of his head. He shifted his foot away from Vinnie’s. 

“No,” Vinnie responded firmly. “I wouldn’t have been able to even get in there if it weren’t for you. You’re my partner.” 

Cavendish was silent for a long, long moment. “You’d be better off without me.” 

Vinnie blinked. “ _ What _ ?” 

“You heard me,” Cavendish muttered, shutting his menu firmly and staring down at the picture of the burger and fries on the front. “We both know that you’re the one who knows what he’s doing, Dakota. As much as I want to be  _ better _ , I’m not. Heaven knows why, but I’m not.” 

Vinnie frowned deeply, shaking his head slowly. This conversation had probably been a long time coming, but God knew he wasn’t sure how to get out of it regardless. 

“Balthazar,” he finally said, and Cav’s head jerked up towards him, eyes going wide at the uncharacteristic use of his first name. “You’re my  _ partner _ . I wouldn’t want anyone else. Hell, I’ve been given  _ offers.” _

“I know,” Cavendish interrupted. “You should have taken them. I don’t und--” 

Vinnie interrupted him, reaching out and placing one of his hands gently over one of Cav’s. Miraculously, it had the intended effect, and Cavendish fell silent once more, staring at him in shock. 

“But I’ve never even  _ considered  _ taking them. I wouldn’t be where I am if it weren’t for you, Cav. You’re important. You’re important to  _ me _ . We’re a team. I wouldn’t change that for the world. I did what I did today because that guy was dangerous. He was unstable, and I didn’t want you to get hurt. I know you’d do the same for me if I was in danger and you had somethin’ to do to stop it.” He squeezed Cavendish’s hand. “So stop thinkin’ you’re not any good, okay?” 

He stared at Cav expectantly, and Cavendish stared back at him for what felt like a year. And then finally, suddenly, Cavendish’s hand jerked in his own, and then shifted to flip over and squeeze his back. 

“Thank you, Dakota,” he said quietly, and his voice was warm and Vinnie was pretty sure he was going to melt from the expression of sweet, soft, pure awe on his face. 

“Hey. We’re partners,” he repeated, and with one more squeeze, he let go of Cavendish’s hand. “Now. I’m starvin’. You ready to order.” 

Cavendish was smiling gently beneath his mustache, his eyes lit up with a fondness that Vinnie was pretty sure he could get used to. “Yes. I think I am.” 

**Author's Note:**

> I am so sorry. 
> 
> This wasn't supposed to have Emotion what to heck???
> 
> Come scream at me on tumblr @deathishauntedbyhumans; Kudos/comments are love.


End file.
